Opposing Harmony
by Ichiban Bakayaro
Summary: Have you ever had to make a decision that would make or break your life? Rukia Kuchiki has been accepted into the Tokyo Academy of Music with Ichigo Kurosaki. Will music be the pathway to a better future for both of them? IchiRuki and HitsuHina
1. The Jury

Hey peoples!

My first fanfic.

kthxbye~

* * *

Chapter 1- The Jury

Rukia walked into her living room with a cup of coffee for her best friend, Inoue Orihime, and the piece of paper that might just change her life forever.

"Should I go?" Rukia said while handing the cup of coffee to her cheery friend. This question has been bothering Rukia for the past week.

"Oh come on Rukia! I think you should do this. You have worked so hard for this position and not accepting would be a total waste of time," Inoue Orihime encouraged, "You'd be the best flute player at the Tokyo Academy of Music, or would you rather do nothing for the rest of your life?"

Rukia withered her eyebrows and gave Orihime a doubtful glance. "Thanks Orihime… but… even if I decide to go, Nii-sama probably won't approve…" A wave of disappointment washed over Rukia Kuchiki's face.

############

Ichigo Kurosaki sat at his computer table, reading his acceptance letter over and over again. "YESSSSS! I FINALLY GOT IN!" he thought excitedly.

He has always enjoyed music. When he was 6, he started learning the piano. His mum, Masaki Kurosaki, enjoyed listening to the piano so Ichigo decided to learn it to make his mum happy. But when Ichigo was 9, on the June 17th, Masaki was killed. Ichigo was devastated and was determined to keep up his playing as an appreciation to his mother.

############

Rukia jumped as she caught Orihime staring at her.

"Let's call him then! To ask him," Orihime blinked repeatedly with a smile, "But you have decided to go... right?" Orihime's face suddenly turned pitch black.

Rukia could feel the intense mood in the room. A mumble escaped out of her mouth. Orihime didn't hear her properly. Her head tipped on an angle. "O….k… ," Rukia slowly said so that Orihime could actually hear her this time. And the room all of a sudden lighten and the smile as wide as the Amazon River appeared on Orihime's perfect face.

"What was your brother's phone number again?" All Rukia could comprehend right now was how fast her best friend reaches the phone. Would her Nii-sama let her go to the most prestigious music school in all of Japan?

############

"Now when does this school start…?" Ichigo started talking to himself, "Oh, 18th January! That's only 2 weeks away!"

Too excited, Ichigo has already started packing… for 5 minutes and gave up when the phone rang.

"Hello, Ichigo Kurosaki speaking," he started.

"OIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ICHIGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ichigo sighed… this is going to be a long night.

"Oh. What do you want old man?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH… MY FAVOURITE SON DOESN'T LOVE ME ANYMORE!"

"….. You only have one son… but I guess you could hate him." Ichigo smirked.

Ichigo heard a thud and heard his sister, Karin, yelling out, 'GET OVER YOURSELF!'

"Hey Ichii-nii!" It was Yuzu, Karin's twin. _What a relief. The old man's gone._

"Yuzu. How are you? Guess what? I GOT IN TO THE TOKYO ACADEMY OF MUSIC!"

"REALLY! THAT'S SO GREAT! I BET YOU ARE EXCITED!"

Ichigo coughed and straightened up. "Uh… yeah. Sure." Ichigo said trying to hide his true feelings.

Ichigo wanted to end this conversation now. He has better things to do. "Uhh… Yuzu, I gotta go now. I'll talk to you some other time ok?"

"Yeah sure, Karin says hi by the way. And dad is still unconscious. Bye!"

The phone hung up and Ichigo could finally start to get ready his things for the boarding school.

############

"Umm... I'll do it," Rukia answered while punching in the number, with a worried expression.

Rukia could faintly hear the phone dialling tone as she put it closer to her ear. She nodded to Orihime to tell her it's connecting and received one of Orihime's famous 'No worries! It was nothing smile'. She's always been grateful to have such a good and trustworthy friend like Orihime.

Before she knew it, a dull but demanding voice cut her train of thought. It was her brother, Byakuya Kuchiki. Rukia's stomach was now filled with butterflies and her head felt empty.

"Rukia. Why did you call me?" A cold voice woke her up.

"Uhh…. It's a….." Rukia was trying to keep the phone steady. A comforting hand reached out to Rukia's shoulder and all the butterflies immediately disappeared from her stomach. "What would I do without Orihime?" she thought.

"Well… it's just that a few weeks ago, I went for an audition for a scholarship to Tokyo Academy of Music and I got accepted. I'm planning on going…" Rukia started, "Nii-sama… is that ok?"

Rukia waited for a response but all she got was a long pause. She could hear the steady rhythm of her Nii-sama's breath as he was thinking. "Nii-sama…." Rukia had to choose her words carefully to convince her brother to let her go to the school. "I worked really hard for this place! I can afford the tuition fee and you don't need to worry about me being lonely there because it's in the heart of Tokyo at the boarding school, with all the other students. Please. This is the most esteemed music school in Japan. Getting _accepted into this school itself, is an honour. But imagine me graduating from that school."_

With much convincing, Byakuya responded, "Rukia, is this, what you really want? I'll trust to follow your heart to make the right decision."

And just like that, Byakuya Kuchiki hung up. Rukia was jumping for joy at that very moment.

"I'M GOING TO TOKYO ACADEMY OF MUSIC!" Rukia yelled.

* * *

End Note: Thank you to my editor, AbsoluteOtaku! And also, thanks for teaching me how to use Fanfic. haha...  
And also thank you to MsMifuyu for helping me think of the title! XD

THANKS FOR READING PEOPLES! I'LL TRY TO POST EVERY WEEK!


	2. New Adventure

Hey peoples!

Thanks to MsMifuyu, I had to post early!

XD

* * *

Chapter 2- New Adventure

Rukia took out her luggage to where she was waiting for the taxi that would take her to the airport. And from there, she would take an aeroplane from Osaka to Tokyo.

"Are you sure you got everything?" Orihime asked.

"Mmm," Rukia responded while nodding her head when she checked that she hadn't forgotten her flute. It would be terrible if she arrived at the academy without her instrument.

"Well, I'll miss you Rukia-chan! Make sure you email me or we can Skype! I know you're gonna be awesome there." Orihime said, trying not to sound too sad.

Rukia nodded her head again. "Thanks Orihime. Thanks for everything! And in return, I will check out the hot guys there for you!" Rukia grinned.

Just then, a taxi reared up to take Rukia's luggages. _Is it that time already?_ Giving Orihime one last hug, she said her goodbye and left.

Rukia smiled as her new adventure begins.

############

Ichigo woke up half an hour before his high school friend, Ishida Uryuu, arranged to pick him up. He made sure he had everything from his toothbrush to the aeroplane ticket.

Everything was ready as he sat down on his couch one last time. _I'm gonna miss Kyoto._

-Ding Dong-

The doorbell interrupted his daydream. _Uryuu must be here. _With a sigh, Ichigo stood up and opened the door.

Ichigo looked at his watch, 5:55. As expected his friend, Ishida Uryuu, was 5 minutes early. _Typical... _

"Good morning Uryuu. Thanks for helping out!" Ichigo said.

"Ohh... pleasure. You ready? Tokyo huh? You must be pretty excited." Uryuu huffed.

"Uhh yeah... sorta. A bit. _A lot is more like it! _I was just interested so I thought I should try out for it."

Uryuu smiled. _He hasn't changed at all._ And with the thought, Uryuu started taking the bags down to the car.

And moments later, Ichigo found himself on an aeroplane flying to Tokyo. _This is gonna be one heck of a journey._

###########

Rukia slept most of the way from Osaka but still felt a bit tired. _OK, fine. Very tired._ Right now, she needed to catch a taxi to the boarding school.

She spotted a taxi heading towards her. She raised her hand and hailed for the taxi but another hand shot out in front of her. Rukia blinked and refocused her eyes. A man maybe two years older than her with spiky orange hair stood in front of her with _his_ hand out. He turned around and glanced at Rukia. A deep scowl was glued to his face.

Rukia stared at him for a long time before she realised he was loading his bags onto the taxi.

"Hey! I got this taxi first!" Rukia yelled. The man didn't respond.

"OI YOU!" Rukia felt like bashing him. _Who does he think he is?_

Rukia went up to the man. She had to look up to actually _see_ his face. _Gosh, he's so tall!_

###########

Ichigo turned to see a short girl with short black hair stomp up to him.

Looking down, he said, "What do you want, midget?"

The look on her face was priceless! Her jaw dropped to the ground and stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity.

"I had this taxi first so back off! And by the way, I'M NOT A MIDGET!" The girl shouted.

"Who knew such a small person could have such a big voice..." Ichigo teased her.

"Oh yeah? You think this is big? Huh? You haven't seen anything yet!" The mystery girl was as red as a capsicum on fire!

###########

Rukia couldn't believe it! She was usually very controlled. What has happened! Rukia breathed in, _take control. _She knew she was wasting her time. All she wanted to do was to go back to the school to rest.

"I'm in a hurry today so count yourself lucky," Rukia walked past him with confidence.

_I'm never going to forget you... asshole._

She saw a taxi and gave a death stare to anyone who wanted to hail for it. Everyone backed away as if she was a tiger going for the last kill. Rukia loaded her luggages in the taxi and it drove away.

###########

Ichigo's eyes followed her taxi until it was out of sight. He was daydreaming again. He stood for a while before he heard the taxi's engine fire up. He shook his head and stepped into the car.

"Let's go driver," Ichigo said to the taxi driver.

The taxi driver in the cab asked Ichigo of his destination.

"Tokyo Academy of Music," Ichigo replied.

"Tokyo Academy of Music huh? You a musician?"

"Yeah, sorta," Ichigo couldn't help himself by smirking as he replied.

The taxi driver nodded and for the rest of the trip, they sat in silence.

###########

Rukia sat in the taxi and thought about that man before. She just couldn't accept why he was so goddamm annoying! What was his problem?

_Ahhh... don't think of this now._ "Are we close to the school, driver?" Rukia asked as nicely as possible without having an impatient tone.

"5 minutes probably," the driver said.

"OK. Could you make it quick please?"

"I'll try. Tough day huh?" the driver tried to calm the situation down.

"Yeah," Rukia rested her eyes.

When she opened her eyes 3 minutes later, she saw the most beautiful building. It was completely made out of sandstone and marble. It looked like the White House, but better. Rukia sighed and smiled. The building had a warm aura that made her feel straight at home.

She unloaded her bags from the taxi with much help from the taxi driver. Rukia paid and thanked the driver politely before walking through the huge opened doors that lead her to heaven. She pinched herself to make sure this wasn't a dream. _Ow..._

###########

"We're here," the driver pointed out.

Ichigo looked out the window and saw the gigantic building on his left. He stared at it, awed by it's perfection.

"That's 2000 Yen," the driver said holding his hand out.

Ichigo reached for his wallet and paid him. "Thanks."

The taxi driver unloaded Ichigo's belongings and got back in the cab. "Good luck kid!" He gave a slight wave and drove away.

Ichigo walked inside with his bags without a moment to waste.

* * *

End Note: Nothing much to say... so.. yeah! REVIEW!  
kthxbye!


	3. Tokyo Academy of Music

Chapter 3- Tokyo Academy of Music

It was 4:15 in the afternoon as Rukia walked into the front office.

"Hello. I'm Kuchiki Rukia, a new student that will be starting here tomorrow," Rukia told the receptionist.

"Oh, welcome, I'm Nanao Ise, please fill out these forms," the friendly receptionist said.

Nanao slid a few pieces of paper across the counter to Rukia.

"Uh... Just a question, will I be having a room to myself or sharing with someone?" Rukia enquired.

"Everyone shares a room here. Your room-mate has already arrived. Her name is Hinamori Momo. Seems like a nice girl," Nanao said.

Rukia thought about it, _it wouldn't be so bad to share a room... I guess._ She quickly filled out the forms and handed it back to Nanao.

"Thanks. Now, the Institute is separated into 3 Blocks. Block A is the Auditorium and the Lobby. Block B is where we are now. Level 2, 3 and 4 are dorms. There are 15 dorms on a level. The dining room is on the 5th floor. Block C has 2 levels of rehearsal rooms. Understand?"

Rukia nodded and smiled. "Do you have a map?"

"Yes. Your room is on the second level of Block B in Room 12. Here's your room key and map. Thank you!"

Rukia picked up her bags and was about to walk towards the elevator.

"OH WAIT! YOU FORGOT YOUR TIMETABLE! HERE!" Nanao shouted, waving a piece yellow paper over the counter.

She put down everything and took the timetable from Nanao. "Thank you."

Rukia dragged along her bags to the elevator and pressed the up button. _Thank god... finally... I just wanted to sit down and rest!_

-Ding-

The elevator door opened and Rukia stepped in. She pressed 2 and up the elevator went. The elevator doors slowly closed as she thought she saw a flash of orange. Rukia gasped. _No way... It can't possibly be him. I must be hallucinating. _She shook her head to get rid of the picture in her head.

############

Ichigo walked toward the reception desk, "Good afternoon, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, your new student."

"Oh... let me check. Oh yes, right here, Kurosaki-san. Fill out these papers, please," the receptionist said.

"OK..." Ichigo looked at her name tag, "Nanao-san."

Nanao smiled. She opened the cupboard to her left and retrieved a key card.

"Here," Ichigo muttered as he passed the now filled out forms to Nanao.

Nanao gave the key card to Ichigo while checking all the information on the form was filled out correctly. She nodded and explained the whereabouts of the school. She then told him where his room was.

"And here is your timetable. Don't be late for _any_ classes," Nanao said sternly.

"OK. Thank you!" Ichigo turned to the lift.

############

When the elevator stopped, Rukia found her way to Room 12. Using her room key, she opened the door and looked inside. The room was _huge_, with 2 queen size beds and a luxurious bathroom with a spa and a bathtub _of course_. The bathroom also had two sinks with a mirror so big it could fit at least 15 people. This room was the biggest room that Rukia had ever seen. It also a 42" flat screen TV, two built in wardrobes and 2 large work tables. This room was obviously set up for two people to live in. _Wow..._The room was set up so grandly, it almost felt like stepping into the Queens's room.A girl about the same size as Rukia came out from a corner.

"Hello. I'm Momo! You must be my roommate!" she said cheerfully.

Rukia nodded. "Uh huh! My name is Rukia," she introduced herself.

Momo smiled.

"This room is so beautiful," Rukia still in awe of the charming room, "Anyways, it's nice to meet you and I look forward to staying with you!"

"Me too," Momo smiled again, "Do you need help to bring in your bags?"

Before Rukia even replied, Momo was already outside bringing Rukia's bags in.

"Oh... yeah, thanks," Rukia knew she and her roommate would enjoy each other's company.

############

Ichigo stopped in front of Room 13 on the second floor of Block B. He reached into his pocket to dig up his key card.

-Beep-

The door unlocked and he pulled his bags into the room. A blast of cold air blew out towards Ichigo. It reminded him of his freezer when it hasn't been opened for a while. _Woah... who put the air-con on so cold!_

"Hello? Anyone here?" Ichigo called out. He looked into the room, _a decent size. That's what I would have expected for the tuition fee that I paid..._

A short kid with white spiky hair came out from the bathroom. His big, green eyes stared at Ichigo, pausing at his bright orange hair.

"Hey. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. You're my roommate?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah. Hitsugaya Toushiro. What do you play?" he inquired.

"Uhh... piano. You?"

"Cello," The two stood there for a while feeling awkward.

"So... trying not to be rude... but aren't you a little _young _to be at this academy?"

Toushiro growled, "I'm not as young as I look... but being short doesn't help either. "

"Really? Hah!" Ichigo tried to not laugh.

"Yeah. And isn't it the school rules that you can only have natural hair colour to be here, huh?" Toushiro grinned.

"Huh?" Ichigo looked down at him, a small grin started to form, "That should be my line, midget. Orange _is _my natural hair colour. But what about you, too stressed out in life? Oh and why is it so damn cold in here? It's going to start snowing soon..."

"Oh yeah. I thought... since we already paid for it, why don't we just use it to the max?"

Ichigo couldn't help but laugh. That's exactly what he would have said. "True true," He ruffled the kid's white hair.

Toushiro immediately fixed his hair up.

"Anyways, I'm going to go rest up. Dinner Orientation tonight," Toushiro said.

"Yeah, I need to get some sleep too. The plane trip was horrible..." Ichigo dumped his bags down and just fell on the bed. _Looks like we have something in common... I could get used to the cold._

############

_Finally, finished putting away all the stuff... thanks to Momo that is... _Rukia had always liked things organized.

"Thanks so much Momo!" Rukia smiled.

Momo smiled back. "No problem. Tidiness is number one in this room right?"

Rukia nodded her head in agreement.

"Hey, there's some kind of orientation dinner thingo tonight, right?" she asked.

"I think so... we meet up at 6:30 at the dining hall. On level 5 if I'm not wrong... I forgot to ask for a map," Momo said.

Rukia took out her map from her pocket and waved it around. _Lucky I asked Nanao-san for one. _

_- At 6:25 -_

"Hurry up Momo! We gotta go!" Rukia hurried her new friend.

"Coming! Just give me 1 more minute!" she shouted from the bathroom.

Rukia waited outside their room. A while later, Momo came out from the room and made sure they had everything. Earlier, they were given a blank sheet of card to write their names on. They had to put it on for tonight's meet-up so they could get to know each other. Rukia's name tag, which had her name and a bunny playing a flute on it, was clipped onto her white blouse. One of the reasons Rukia chose to attend Tokyo Academy of Music was because they weren't strict on uniform. School uniforms were only compulsory when performing.

The two girls spent the whole afternoon and thought of the perfect design to put on their card. Rukia decided to put her favourite character on it, Chappy the Bunny. Momo's name tag had a picture of a black cat on it.

They quickly took the lift to the 5th floor. When the elevator doors opened, Rukia saw that heaps of people were already at the dining hall. She looked around and froze. _Oh my god. No... Please god no._ Three tables down, a certain orange haired male sat staring back at her.

* * *

End Note: THANKS SO MUCH TO ABSOLUTEOTAKU... for editting!

BYE!


	4. Dinner Orientation

Hey peoples!

School's started... but I'll continue to write and upload asap!

Thanks for reading!

* * *

Chapter 4- Dinner Orientation

The orientation dinner was about to start. Ichigo was looking for a seat.

"Toushiro, where do we sit?"

Ichigo saw that every seat had a name. _Ichigo, Ichigo... where is my name?_

He turned around to the table behind him and read the names of the people who are supposed to sit there. _Oh.. there's my name. And Hitsugaya Toushiro. _

"Toushiro! Our table's here!" Ichigo yelled out to the short 'boy'.

Toushiro came over to the table and sat down. "Good job, Kurosaki."

############

Rukia was still hyperventilating. She used her hands to cover her eyes.

"Fellow musicians! Please find your seats at your applicable table," the host announced.

Momo quickly dragged Rukia to where her name was. "You're sitting next to me!"

Rukia sat down and took her hands off her eyes, they were drawn to the spiky orange hair in front of her straight away.

"OH MY GOD... I'M DYING!" she whispered to Momo.

############

Ichigo saw a short girl with her hair tied up in a bun dragging her friend towards her. The closer she came over to the table, the more Ichigo thought she had seen her friend somewhere before. _Where have I seen her before?_

She sat down on the table and Ichigo recognized her straight away. _It's her again. I can't believe she's a musician._

She opened her eyes and Ichigo smirked at her. "So you come here, too, huh?"

"Uh huh, can't believe you were this kind of person."

"Yeah, can't believe you were this kind of person either. Nice name tag... Ru-ki-a!" Ichigo retorted.

"YOU! HOW DARE YO-" Rukia got cut off by a voice over the microphone.

############

"Good Evening everyone. I'm Ukitake Juushirou and I'm your new teacher." Ukitake-_sensei _started, "Take a good look at everyone around you because you're all in the same class too."

"Holy crap. We're in the same class..." Rukia said to herself.

She saw Ichigo smirk. _If we are in the same class, that means we might be working together!_ _!_

"All the musicians in this academy are the best of the batch. After all, this _is_ the best music school in the whole of Japan so we expect that you work hard to uphold the reputation of this school." Ukitake-sensei said.

For the next half an hour, at least, everyone was listening intently to his lecture about the school and the history of the academy. It was quiet in the dinner hall while he spoke except for an occasional stomach growl here and there. And finally, he said the phrase that everyone wanted to hear... "Bring in the dinner!"

Everyone clapped when he finally finished. The smell of miso soup lingered in the air as waiters brought it out with the sashimi, sushi and tempura. _Traditional Japanese meals tonight__...__ nice._ Rukia thanked the waiter that placed the plates of food in front of her.

"Ittadakimasu!" Rukia picked up her spoon to dip into her soup, a burst of flavour hit her taste buds.

She looked at Momo, "If only I can cook this well," she laughed.

Momo laughed along and continued with her meal. Everyone ate while occasionally chatting to the person sitting next to them.

"We start lessons tomorrow, Rukia-chan!" Momo reminded her.

"Oh yeah, Ukitake-sensei looks like a pretty nice teacher..." Rukia gave the teacher a glance.

Ukitake-sensei saw Rukia look at him and walked toward her to introduce himself.

"Hello. I'm Ukitake Juushirou. How are you enjoying the academy so far?"

"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Rukia Kuchiki. I very much love this school. The rooms are very nice too!" Rukia answered politely.

"I'm glad you like it! I look forward to working with you during your stay here. If you need any help, I'd be delighted Kuchiki-san," Ukitake-sensei offered.

############

Ichigo looked at Ukitake-sensei and Rukia speak. _She sounds like such a stuck up... jeez._ After watching the two talk for a while longer, he lost interest so he went back to his conversation with Toushiro.

"So, we're in the same class, Shorty!" Ichigo reminded Toushiro.

"Unfortunately... I wonder what we have to do for the first assessment," he asked out of curiosity.

A long, white haired man stood behind Toushiro coincidently while he was talking to himself, "Well hello, you asked what our first assessment would be right? I'll explain everything tomorrow in class. I'm Ukitake (Juushirou).

Ichigo immediately looked away as if he wasn't interested.

"My name is Hitsugaya Toushiro. Nice to meet you," he politely introduced himself.

"What do you play?" Ukitake-sensei asked.

"Cello, I'm the only one here playing cello right?" Toushiro enquired.

"Yes, but that's alright! That kinda means you're special huh?" Ukitake-sensei laughed.

"Hmm, I guess so..." Toushiro responded.

"So have you got to know anyone else here?"

"I know this idiot, Ichigo Kurosaki. He plays piano," Toushiro sounded bored, "And his _friend_, Rukia Kuchiki by the looks of her name tag."

"How about the girl next to her? I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that 'Momo Hinamori' plays a violin," Ukitake-sensei looked towards Momo.

############

Momo overheard Ukitake-sensei say her name and looked at him.

"Do you play a violin Momo-san?" the teacher asked her.

"Yes," she responded.

"This is Toushiro-san," Ukitake-sensei introduced, "He plays the cello. Maybe you guys would get along," he smiled and walked away.

"Hello, Toushiro-san. I'm Momo Hinamori."

"Nice to meet you," Toushiro said.

"What room do you stay in?" Momo asked.

Toushiro thought about it for a long time, and finally, "Downstairs, Level 2, Room 13," He laughed at his forgetfulness.

"Really? I live in Room 12! Right next to yours!" Momo said excitedly.

"Ah. Maybe we can get together some time and play," Toushiro sounded nervous, "I can bring my cello, and you can bring your violin."

Momo smiled. "Ok, how about after class tomorrow, in the rehearsal rooms?"

"Great! Class finishes at 4 right? So I'll meet outside your room at 4:30?" Toushiro kept smiling at Momo.

############

Ichigo looked at Rukia, "Teacher's pet!"

She gave Ichigo a cold, death glare, "Get a life, strawberry!"

"Can't believe we're in the same class, midget!" he said.

"Hmph, I just hope we don't have paired up activities, cause then there's a possibility that we might be paired together," Rukia kept glaring, "I'd rather work with the dumbest kid in class!"

"Well, _I_ hope I don't have you as a partner. You're so short that sometimes I don't realize that you're even in the room!"

"Stop dissing my height, CARROT HEAD!"

"Aren't we such good friends here?" a sarcastic voice came from a student with bright red hair sitting across the table. On his face were tattoos that made Rukia shudder.

* * *

End Note: A little bit of Renji coming up!

Bye!


	5. The Night Before the Next Big Day

Hey readers,

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5- The Night Before the Next Big Day

Rukia stared at the man across the table for a while.

"Yo! I'm Abarai Renji," the red haired man finally introduced himself.

"I'm Rukia and that stupid carrot head over there is Mr. Strawberry," Rukia smirked at Ichigo.

"Hey! I think I am quite capable introduce myself, thank you very much!" Ichigo yelled at Rukia.

"Are you sure 'Little Ichi' can handle it?" Rukia teased him.

Renji started laughing so hard that he could feel a stomach-ache coming on. "You guys are so nice to each other!"

Rukia and Ichigo turned their heads at Renji at the same time and gave him a death stare. "Butt out!"

"Haha! I've watched you two yell and stare at each other for the whole night... it's kinda amusing!" Renji laughed again.

A loud voice projected from the microphone that announced that dinner was over and everyone should go back to their rooms to rest for tomorrow's big day of learning.

Toushiro's head turned to the speaker when he heard before he stood up and went up to Momo, "I'll walk you back."

"Ok, thanks," Momo blushed.

Toushiro smiled and took the elevator back down to Level 2. They walked together to the room with a '12' on it.

Toushiro stopped at the front of the room and said goodnight.

"Goodnight, Shiro-chan," Momo blushed again and smiled.

_Shiro-chan? _"Haha, if you need anything, I'm next door," Toushiro offered.

"'K, see you tomorrow,"

Toushiro waved and headed to Room 13.

Momo turned into her room. _He's pretty cute!_ She lay on her bed and thought about the whole night. She had often wanted to have a boyfriend but all of the guys in school were either too manly, too ugly or too stupid. Toushiro, on the other hand, was cool, cute, plays the cello and has things in common with her.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Rukia came into the room, stomping. _Someone's angry..._

"Hey Rukia! Anything wrong?" Momo looked at her.

"Umm... no... nothing really... just that stupid jerk, the strawberry!" Rukia tried to keep her cool.

"Ichigo-san? He's not that bad... pretty cute... but not my type!" she smiled.

"Cute?" Rukia pulled softly at Momo's hair and cheek. "What have you done with the Momo I know?"

Momo rubbed her face to try to ease the pain. "If you don't like him, just say so... jeez. Don't need to kill me in the process..."

############

Toushiro splashed his face with cold tap water over the sink. He couldn't believe that he got a 'date' after the first time. _Ok... Maybe it's not a 'proper'_ _date... _

Toushiro looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. _Score!_

Someone opened and closed the door, Ichigo's voice cut through the cold air, "Toushiro! You in there? Hurry up! I need to pee!"

"Jeez... coming, coming," Toushiro wiped his face with a small towel and fixed his hair a little bit. He held the door knob and twisted it open.

'Hurry up! I'm gonna pee in my pants soon!" Ichigo ran in the toilet and shut the door behind him, pushing Toushiro out.

"Huh, how's Rukia?" Toushiro noticed that Ichigo and Rukia weren't the best of friends. He smirked at his evilness.

"I have a rule of not talking while I do my 'business'... but if you must know, she's annoying the frick out of me," he told him.

"Uh huh, you can tell me later when you finish your 'business' then," Toushiro was in a happy mood.

He looked at the timetable on his desk. Music Class starts at 1 and finishes at 4, what was he going to do in the morning? Maybe he'll sleep in or go on a tour of the school. _Maybe sleeping in is a good idea. _His 'date' was at 4:30, so as soon as he finishes class, he'll come back to the room and take a shower before going over to Momo's room to pick her up.

When Ichigo finally came out from the bathroom, Ichigo started explaining why Rukia was so annoying.

"She blames me for everything, just because I took her taxi on the first day," Ichigo started from the beginning. "I thought it was just some stranger so I didn't care."

"But turns out she was a student at this school..." Toushiro guessed what he was going to say next.

"Yeah. So when she turned up at the orientation dinner, I was a little surprised, 'cause I didn't expect someone like her to be at somewhere like _this_!" Ichigo continued.

"I could say the same about you... you don't look like someone that would fit in here either," Toushiro murmured.

"Hmmm... I dunno. I just like piano," Ichigo yawned.

"That's all that matters, right?" Toushiro answered.

"I'm going to sleep! I'm beat!" Ichigo plopped on his bed.

"Night then, oh by the way, I'm going to rehearse with Momo tomorrow at 4:30 after class,"

"Oooo... you got yourself a date huh?" Ichigo teased his roommate.

"Not really... just playing around," Toushiro told him.

"Alright then, night!" Ichigo turned off the light.

############

Momo changed into her pyjamas and waited for Rukia to come out of the bathroom so she could brush her teeth. The bathroom door opened and Rukia came out in her Chappy the Bunny pyjamas.

"I'm gonna sleep first," Rukia said.

"Ok, I'm going out tomorrow evening by the way, just if you're wondering," Momo told Rukia.

"Huh? Where to?" Rukia asked.

"Just to the rehearsal rooms to practice with Shiro-chan," she replied.

"Shiro-chan? The white haired kid next door? You nicknamed him?" Rukia looked worried, "There's definitely something going on here... Do you want me to come?"

"Uhh... I don't think that'll be necessary... it's just practice?" she assured Rukia.

"Ok then. Goodnight!" Rukia laid down on her bed and hugged her Chappy the Bunny toy.

"I'll go brush my teeth and go to sleep too! Night, Rukia-chan!" Momo went into the bathroom.

Crap, Rukia thought after two minutes of lying in bed, I forgot to call Inoue

"Hey Momo! I _can_ call my friend in Kyoto from the room phone right?" Rukia yelled.

"I ghuess sho!" Momo tried to talk while still brushing her teeth.

"Oh well, who cares," Rukia picked up the phone and dialled Inoue's number.

The phone ringed for a while before a familiar voice picked up.

"Inoue! It's Rukia! How's life without me?" Rukia said excitedly.

"Oh my god, Rukia! I miss you so much, how's the academy?"

"It's the best. I love it here!" Rukia told her, "Everyone's so nice here, except that stupid strawberry..."

"Strawberry? I'm so confused..." Inoue asked.

She explained everything that happened at the airport and how Ichigo took her taxi, her voice getting louder and louder as she got angrier.

Momo came out of the bathroom and climbed into the bed. She waved at Rukia as a sign of goodnight. Rukia quickly waved back and returned to her phone call, trying to talk as soft as possible.

"Why are you whispering?" Inoue questioned.

"My roommate is going to sleep," Rukia whispered.

"Oh, then you should go to sleep too!" Inoue said.

"Ok, I'll go to sleep then. Goodnight! I'll call you some other time," Rukia told her.

"Ok. Goodnight," Inoue hung up.

Rukia put her phone down.

* * *

End Note: Thanks for reading!

Stick around for Chapter 6! I'm really excited about this one!  
Thanks to my subarashi editor again~ XD


	6. The Mad Rush in the Morning

Hey there, readers.

Sorry this chapter took so long, XD  
And now that it's finally here, enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 6- The Mad Rush in the Morning

Rukia woke up at 7 for a jog around the park. She got up and looked at Momo, _I won't wake her up. Maybe she would want to sleep in. _So went into the bathroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth. She changed into a loose singlet, short pants and her joggers. At 7:30 as Rukia left as quietly as possible.

The elevator dinged as it opened the doors. The Level 1 button lit up as she pressed it.

"Good morning, Kuchiki-san," Nanao greeted.

"Good morning, Nanao-san," Rukia said. "I'm going for a run."

"Oh well, have fun then," the friendly receptionist said, waving.

Rukia sprinted out the door and heard someone's voice yell after her. "OI MIDGET!"

She turned around, it was Ichigo. "What?"

"You going for a run?" Ichigo asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Rukia retorted.

"I'll come as well then," Ichigo said. "I was going to go running anyway."

They ran out of the gates of the academy and turned to the direction of the park.

"Do you always run?" the strawberry head asked.

"Yes, how do you think I keep my _body so __beautiful_?" Rukia joked.

Ichigo scoffed. "Fine, don't tell me. More running less talking."

The two academy students ran around the park, trying to compete with each other to see who could run faster. Finally after 45 minutes, they stopped and gasped for air with their hands resting on their knees in a squatting position. Their shirts were a darker shade from before they started running.

"How many rounds did we make?" Rukia said while gasping for more air.

"Three I think," Ichigo took in a big breath of fresh air.

"You're pretty quick, but I'm still quicker!" Rukia shouted.

Ichigo ignored her and headed back to the school. Rukia quickly caught up with him.

"You wanna run again tomorrow?" Ichigo suggested.

Rukia couldn't deny that running with Ichigo wasn't fun, she enjoyed having someone to run with her for a change. "Ok, tomorrow at the same time."

When they got back to school, Ichigo went straight for the elevator and pressed the up button. Nanao-san peered over the counter and saw that both of them were soaking wet from their sweat.

"Looks like you guys went for a walk in the rain!" Nanao-san laughed at her own joke.

Rukia and Ichigo looked down at their shirts for the first time since they finished their run.

"Haha, it does kinda look like it, doesn't it?" Rukia replied Nanao-san with a smile.

The elevator door dinged and both of them walked in, pressing the number '2' after. When the elevator stopped at Level 2, they both walked out and headed towards their rooms.

"Uh, see you at breakfast later," Rukia said.

"Ah, yeah," Ichigo opened his door and went in.

Rukia searched her pocket for her keys and finally found them. She opened the door and walked in. Momo was sitting at her table, studying her timetable.

"Good morning, Momo," Rukia greeted her roommate.

"Rukia, good morning," Momo replied. "You went running this morning?"

"Yeah, I go running every morning. You can come with me, if you want," Rukia offered.

"Umm, you know what? I'll pass... I'm not a sporty type anyway, thanks though!" Momo smiled. "I'm hungry! I'm gonna get ready and go for breakfast."

"Ok, I'll wait for you," Rukia offered.

**-15 minutes later-**

"Let's go, Momo! I'M STARVING!" Rukia screamed. "I'm gonna leave in 1 minute!"

Momo came out of the toilet, wearing a short, pink dress with white colour patterns on it.

"Wow, we're only going for breakfast you know, not a party!" Rukia commented. "It looks good though."

"Really? Maybe I'll change into T-shirt and jeans then," Momo turned around to her wardrobe but Rukia grabbed her hand and headed out the door.

"Actually, it's fine. I'm gonna die of starvation if you change again," Rukia complained.

At the dining hall, a buffet style breakfast was set up. Bacon, eggs, sausages were just a few of the things Rukia could see. As Momo and her walked to get their breakfast, she could also see a basket of fruits were set up on the table. At the end of the long table, pieces of bread and a toaster were set up with assorted spreads available. On a separate table, drinks were served.

"Hey Rukia, what took you so long?" Ichigo yelled. "Toushiro and I are nearly finished!"

Rukia glared at Ichigo and quickly finished getting her breakfast. Rukia and Momo walked towards where Ichigo and Toushiro were sitting.

"Don't _ever_ yell my name out again," she smacked Ichigo's head. "Do you really want everyone to look at me?"

Ichigo yelped and rubbed his head.

#########

"Good morning, Shiro-chan" Momo said.

"Hey, Hinamori-chan, you look beautiful this morning," Toushiro smiled.

"Oh, thanks Shiro-chan!" Momo blushed. "Are we still on for this afternoon?"

"Yeah, of course," Toushiro laughed.

They both sat at the table and ate in awkward silence until Momo asked, "So, what made you want to come to this academy?"

Toushiro looked at Momo, "I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life but I've always loved music. My heart told me to do what I loved most so I'm here."

"I ended up here because I knew that I wanted to be a musician so I auditioned and here I am," Momo laughed.

Toushiro nodded and finished his coffee. "I'm going to get a cup of water, do you want anything to drink?"

"Umm," Momo thought for a long time and finally decided on having a cup of hot chocolate.

"K, be back in a sec," Toushiro stood up and left.

Rukia was watching Toushiro and Momo talk the whole time and secretly eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Hey Momo," Rukia made sure Toushiro wasn't coming back yet. "How's _Shiro-chan!_"

Momo immediately told her to hush, "He's pretty cool."

"So... I see your date is still on later on," Rukia teased.

"It's not a date!" Momo blushed. _I wish..._

"Uhh, su-" Rukia looked up and saw that Toushiro was coming back with two drinks. "Talk to you later!" she singed.

"Here," Toushiro handed her the cup of hot chocolate.

Momo thanked Toushiro. They quietly chatted for a while before a loud squeak came from the speaker.

"Attention, all students that are in Ukitake-sensei's music class are to start class early today. Please meet your teacher in the auditorium with your instruments in 10 minutes. Thank you."

Momo, Toushiro, Rukia and Ichigo gave each other questioning looks.

"Looks like we need to go to class early today," Ichigo said, "I'd better go get ready."

"Yeah, I'll go back too," Toushiro told Ichigo to wait for him. "See ya later Hinamori-chan. Looks like we need to re-arrange our practice."

Momo nodded and said, "Yeah, we'll talk later."

Rukia also stood up and asked if Momo wants to go back to get some things before going to class.

"I need to go back to get my violin, Rukia-chan," Momo quickly finished her hot chocolate.

"I need to get my flute too," Rukia told her.

Both the girls left the dining hall to get their instruments and hurriedly walked to the auditorium.

* * *

**End Note:** Chapter 7 coming out soon  
In the mean time, REVIEW AND PLEASE GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS TO HELP ME IMPROVE~~ esp. my titles... they're too stupid~  
Please also read my oneshot "Frozen Heart"  
Bye!


	7. First Class, First Date

Hey guys

I'm soooooooo sorry this chapter took so long!

Tests, assignments and stuff took heaps of time.

Anyways, enjoy~

* * *

Chapter 7- First Class, First Date

"Now everyone, calm down and find a seat please," Ukitake-sensei spoke through the microphone in the lectern.

A few seats were left in the middle of the auditorium. Rukia and Momo quickly shuffled through the mass of people to get those seats. They sat down and got their notebooks out.

"Kurosaki-san! Hitsugaya-san! There are seats down near Kuchiki-san!" Ukitake-sensei's voice projected while pointing to the whereabouts of the spare seats.

Rukia's head turned to see Ichigo and Toushiro walking towards her. _Isn't today my lucky day… _she thought sarcastically, turning to look at Momo who was already jumping up and down just by hearing Toushiro's name.

"Sit here, Shiro-chan!" Momo indicated by patting the seat next to her.

"Looks like I'll have to sit here…" Ichigo's voice surprised Rukia.

She grumbled and nodded. Ichigo quickly deposited his butt on the seat next to Rukia and the room suddenly became quiet as Ukitake-sensei started their first lecture.

"Welcome everyone to the first class. I hope we work well together during your time here," the teacher said while slightly bowing. He quickly set up his PowerPoint on the famous composers during the classical period, "So first, let's talk about the history of music…"

Rukia's head floated outside the window when he started talking about the history of music. She already knew it all, Mozart, Beethoven… the greatest classical composers of all time. How they came by playing music. _Blah blah blah…_ She felt something tugging at her sleeve and looked at the hand that was obsessively yanking. Her head lifted.

"What do you want, Ichigo!" Rukia hissed in annoyance.

"Calm down midget," Ichigo put both his hands up in the air. "I just thought you might want to copy down the assessment piece down or something… jeez, looks like it's that time of month again…" he smirked.

"You. Shut. Up," Rukia quickly scribbled down the assignment and felt like an idiot at the same time. _He was only trying to help, jeez… calm down, dragon lady!_

"So, to quickly review, it's a harmonization task. Go find a piece of music and put in a harmonization to it on your own instrument. Is that clear everyone?" Ukitake-sensei looked around the class for any problems. "That's not too hard, right? Ok, you have to perform it in two lessons time, which is a Monday and just to let you know... this is an assessment piece so I would be marking it."

Rukia's head was suddenly back from its holiday and was running through what piece she might be able to use to harmonize._ Something simple. Yeah, simple but effective._

A hand shot up next to her. An all too familiar voice asked, "Can the piece be an original composition that we've wrote ourselves?"

Ukitake-sensei thought about it, "Very good question, Kurosaki-san. I think it's a pretty good idea because it shows your composing skills too, doesn't it?" The teacher nodded and Ichigo's face lit up, but quickly denied that he was happy about the decision when Rukia asked him.

"Ok, that's all for today. Go have a think about what you're going to do for that assignment," Ukitake said. "Oh, you need someone to play the piece with you too. So you have to arrange that."

Everyone stood up and thanked Ukitake-sensei. A crowd of people all squeezed out the two ridiculously small doors at the back of the auditorium at the same time.

Momo and Rukia walked together back to the elevator. Rukia was still thinking about what piece. _I couldn't do an original… cause I don't _have_ one. Maybe I could do it to "Morning" by Grieg?_

Walking next to Rukia was Ichigo, followed by Toushiro.

"Which one are you going to do, Toushiro?" Ichigo asked out of interest.

"Umm, I'm still thinking," he simply responded.

The lift stopped at the second floor. The four of them got out first since they were the last ones to get on the elevator and proceeded to their rooms. Ichigo took out his keys and unlocked the door. Rukia did the same.

"Hey Shiro-chan," Momo grabbed Toushiro's sleeve. "Do you still want to go practice?"

"Umm, I don't know, do you?"

"I was thinking… maybe we could go for a movie?" Momo's hand brushed through her long brown hair.

"Umm, sure," Toushiro agreed. "Is four a good time?"

"Ok," Momo smiled and turned to Rukia and Ichigo, who were standing there waiting for them to finish their conversation. "Do you guys want to come?"

Rukia opened her mouth and said, "Oh, nahh… We don't want to be light bul-"

"Of course we would! It's not like it's a date or anything! Right!" Ichigo asked out of stupidity.

"Great! Let's all meet here at four then!" Momo said and everyone went back into their rooms.

_Jeez, now Ichigo's going to be in our 'date'… _Toushiro gave Ichigo a death glare which he didn't notice because he had taken a nap on the bed.

**At 4 o'clock**

Momo skipped next door with Rukia following behind her, not so enthusiastically. They were 5 minutes early, due to Rukia nagging on Momo always being late. Her petite finger reached for the doorbell but the door opened before she got the chance to ring it. Toushiro's white hair looked even spikier than this morning.

"Hey Shiro-chan!" Momo waved.

Toushiro smiled and waved. He yelled to Ichigo who was still changing in the bathroom.

"He'll be out in a minute," Toushiro laughed nervously. "What movie should we watch?"

"Well, I've been thinking…" Toushiro and Momo walked away in the direction of the lifts to discuss movies.

Rukia was left alone standing in front of Room 13. She poked her head in, "Ichigo! If you don't hurry up, we're going to leave!"

And of course, the bathroom door opened and Ichigo quickly rushed out. "Oh hey Rukia, just give me 2 more seconds."

"1… 2…" Rukia started counting.

Ichigo sprinted to get his things. "5 more seconds!"

"1… 2… 3… 4… 5…"

He was finally ready and ran out, letting the door close behind him.

"Finally…"

Ichigo and Rukia took the lift downstairs to find Toushiro and Momo sitting on a lobby sofa, chatting.

"Let's go, peoples!" Rukia said.

The four friends took off to the direction of the cinema in the heart of the city. They planned to watch a movie and dine at the teppanyaki restaurant next door to the cinema afterwards.

"We've decided! We're going to watch the awesome Bleach anime movie that just came out." Momo squealed. "It should be really good!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

When they got to the cinemas, the line for the tickets was long so Toushiro offered to go buy the tickets while the other 3 bought snacks and drinks. Toushiro walked over to the food counters where Ichigo, Rukia and Momo were purchasing their snacks.

"I've got the tickets," Toushiro flashed out the tickets from his pockets. "It starts in 15 minutes."

Momo went up to Toushiro holding two bags of popcorn and two bottles of coke, "I've got the food for both of us."

Toushiro thanked her and everyone walked up the stairs to the cinema. The huge room was filled with seats that were nearly all taken. They quickly squeezed their way through people to get to the only few unoccupied seats left.

Ichigo grabbed his phone out of his pocket and turned it on silent.

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me…" Rukia hurriedly put her phone on silent.

"Movie's about to start soon…" Ichigo whispered.

Rukia nodded and pointed at the now moving screen, "It's starting."

Everyone hushed as the movie started.

During the movie, Momo slowly slipped her hand down to where Toushiro's was and held it tightly, not letting go. He didn't seem to mind.

After the movie had finished, it was already around 5:45. The 4 musicians headed next door to the teppanyaki restaurant for dinner.

"How good was that movie?" Rukia said in an excited tone.

"Yeah, oh my god, it was so good," Momo replied. "I can't wait for the next one."

They all sat in front of the teppanyaki stove where the chef was mixing up some food. During the evening, they ordered what they wanted and talked about life.

At 7:00, they had finished their dinner. The 4 of them got back to school and took the lift to Level 2.

"That was really fun," Momo said to Toushiro. "We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah, maybe another time," Toushiro responded.

"Well, see you tomorrow," Momo leapt at Toushiro and gave him a quick hug.

They both blushed and everyone said goodnight before going into their rooms.

* * *

What did you guys think? So Toushiro and Momo finally got their date huh. I promise to write more IchiRuki!

Please review and add feedback.

Thanks for reading!


	8. Abarai Renji

Hey everyone,

I'M SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG! BUT EXAMS AND ASSIGNMENTS TOOK PRIORITY ;D

Anyways, happy reading XD

* * *

Chapter 8- Abarai Renji

The next day, Rukia woke up at 7 again to run with Ichigo. She quickly changed into the running gear and left the room, leaving Momo to sleep.

When she got to Level 1, Ichigo was nowhere to be seen so she sat down on the couch to wait for him. As time passed, her complaints became more and more frequent. After _ mins of waiting, Rukia huffed and walked up to Nanao.

"Nanao-san, have you seen Ichigo this morning?" Rukia asked the receptionist.

"Actually, no Kuchiki-san," she shook her head. "Would you like me to call his room?"

"Umm, ok, yes that would be good," Rukia said.

Nanao dialled the number and handed the phone to Rukia. She said thank you. The phone rang for a while and Toushiro's voice said hello.

"Hitsugaya-san, may I speak to Ichigo please?" Rukia said, obviously agitated.

"Ahh, Rukia… Ichigo has a fever, I don't think he can go running today," Toushiro told her.

"Tell her I said sorry," Rukia heard a sick voice say in the background.

"He says he's sorry."

"Oh ok, I'll go by myself then," Rukia sounded disappointed. "Tell him to rest and get better."

"Have fun."

Rukia gave the phone back to Nanao and thanked her.

"He's not feeling too well," Rukia told the receptionist.

Rukia ran out the building and headed towards the park.

"Oii! Woman!" a faint voice followed behind her. She couldn't really hear that well because of the iPod in her ear.

"Oii! Slow down!" the voice was louder this time. Rukia turned her head back. _Huh… it's that red-headed guy._

She slowed down enough to let him jog beside her. His red hair flopped down all the way till his hips. Heaps of sweat dripped down his face and sweat formed on his grey singlet.

"I… was… trying *gasp* to catch up to you..." he puffed.

"Oh, you wanna run too?" Rukia smirked.

"You. Are. Evil," the red head guy pulled out a hair band to tie up his hair.

Rukia laughed. "How can someone like… you be so unfit, when you look so fit?"

"That," he pointed at her, "doesn't make sense. I'm Renji by the way. I go to Tokyo Institute of Music?"

"Yeah, I remember you… you laughed at my argument with Ichigo," Rukia said.

"Where is your boyfriend today?" Renji asked. "I saw him running with you yesterday."

"Firstly, he's not my boyfriend," Rukia poke his chest. "Secondly, he has a fever and couldn't make it."

His face seemed surprised. He was starting to run out of breath again so Rukia stopped running for him to catch his breath.

"How can you run so much?" Renji wheezed out.

"I'm just use to it. If you run every day, you'll eventually get used to it," her explanation was simple.

"That's pretty freaky."

"Your face is freaky. Look at all those tattoos!" Rukia's finger traced his tattoos.

"You're the first girl that's said my tattoos are freaky. Every other girl thinks they're hot!"

Rukia scoffed and said, "I'm different then!" _They are pretty hot though… shhh. No one needs to know. _Rukia said to herself.

"Whatever, lets JOG a little more and then go back."

They jogged for another 15 minutes and walked back to the school.

"I never asked, what do you play?" Rukia was curious to find out.

_He doesn't seem like the classical music type… so not woodwind, brass, or strings I'm assuming._

"Drums."

_I thought so… something rocky._ "That's cool."

They walked up the lobby together. "Well, see you around."

It was 8 by the time Rukia got back to her room.

"Oh my god, Momo," Rukia shook Momo furiously. "I just jogged with that really hot guy Renji."

Momo stirred on the bed and ignored Rukia. She shook her again but more violently this time.

"MOMO! I NEED YOU TO LISTEN TO ME! DID YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID?"

The lazy girl simply tried to shoo Rukia away. "What time is it?"

"8 o'clock you bum! Are you going to get up?"

"Fine fine," Momo sat up on the bed, rubbing her eyes. "What's his name again?"

"RENJI!" Rukia shook Momo by the shoulders to wake her up a bit more.

Momo obviously wanted to sleep in longer. Her eyes could hardly stay open as she listened to Rukia babble on about how Ichigo ditched her, how she met Renji and jogged with him.

"He plays the drums!" Rukia yelled excitedly. "Isn't that SOOOOOO COOL!"

Momo nodded sleepily and fell back on the pillow. Rukia growled angrily. Two seconds later, Momo bounced back up.

"I just had an epiphany," Momo told Rukia. "Actually, more like a sudden realisation."

"Huh?" confusion spread across her whole face.

"You say you like Renji… but don't you like Ichigo? I'm so confused!" Momo caught Rukia by surprise.

"Umm, I don't know either…" Rukia said. _Do I even like any of them?_

"Oh, ok." Momo went back to sleep again.

Room 13

"Tou… shi… rou," Ichigo squeaked out.

"What do you want?" Toushiro answered coldly.

"What time is it?"

"8:15."

"Could you see if Rukia is next door please? She should be back by now," Ichigo asked.

Toushiro just grunted and stormed out the room. Ichigo could just faintly hear his voice. "That stupid carrot head is looking for you. If he keeps this up, I'm gonna kill someone soon."

Rukia laughed. She walked to the room next door while Toushiro stayed in her room with Momo.

"How are things, strawberry?" Rukia greeted.

"Ru…kia. I'm soooo sorry I could make it…" Ichigo looked really sick, the wet towel that sat on top of his head slowly slid down his face.

Rukia looked at the poor boy, taking the towel and re-soaking it in cold water, folded it in a neat rectangular shape before putting it back on his head.

"That's ok," Rukia smiled. "How did you a fever all of a sudden?"

"Must have been the natto that I ate last night…" Ichigo groaned. "They must have been overdue or something."

"Hahaha! Natto are preserved… so I don't think they go off that easily. But it's lucky we didn't have any…"

Ichigo gave Rukia his best death stare which, at the moment, was not very death-y. Rukia just laughed and tried to cheer him up.

"So did you go running by yourself this morning?" Ichigo asked.

"Umm… not exactly," Rukia chose her words carefully. "Renji accompanied me."

"Who?"

"The red haired guy, remember?"

"Uhh," Ichigo tugged at his memory. "Oh! Him! I bet he beat you hey?"

"Of course not! No one can beat me!" Rukia crossed her arms and looked away.

"Sure sure," Ichigo teased.

Momo came running into the room. "Renji's next door, he's looking for you."

Ichigo screwed up his face. "How does he know where you…"

Rukia said goodbye and left. Renji was waiting outside Rukia's room.

"Hey! My friends and I decided to go play pool, you wanna come?" Renji offered.

"Umm…" she looked at Momo. She just gave Rukia a 'hurry up and go' face.

"Ok," Rukia said.

Ichigo's door was wide open. His fists clenched as Rukia and Renji walked off.

* * *

End Note:

Thank you to my editor AbsoluteOtaku. She has to go through so much pain for reading my crap draft. XD

Thanks for reading!


	9. Anguish

Hello readers,

I know I haven't been posting for a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG time... anyways... I got my FRIEND (MsMifuyu) to write a chapter cause I was so mind blocked. {{{THANK YOU!}}} She's given my inspiration now. XD

Anyways, enjoy Opposing Harmony MsMifuyu style. XD

© By MsMifuyu

* * *

Chapter 9- Anguish

Ichigo tapped his pencil incessantly on the table whilst every few minutes falling into mini-bouts of cough attacks. Momentarily closing his eyes, he imagined the notes forming in his head on the stave creating something, creating what he wanted to hear, yet when he needed that pause, that moment _emotion_ was supposed to flood in the piece, the image of Rukia and Renji leaving together clouded his vision.

He snapped, throwing his mechanical pencil like a dagger at the wall. The big movement caused him to fall into another cough attack. Toushiro rolled over, frowning at his enraged roommate.

"Oi, this is my room too. At least throw it on your half."

Ichigo stayed silent, returning to his seat. His jaw clenched before he stood back up, grabbed his pencil and sat back down, scribbling a few more notes onto the sheet of empty staves.

Raising an eyebrow at this perfect opportunity to annoy his daft roommate, Toushiro rolled onto his stomach before pushing himself into a cross legged position.

"Have you found a partner for the joint music assignment yet?"

He waited long enough that he thought he'd get no reply.

"No," Ichigo said, his back turned, "I had someone in mind but now that I think about it, the harmony's off between our instruments."

"…" Toushiro raised an eyebrow.

"I should've known, originally I was thinking that even the instruments were totally different, they'd make a really nice combination, but if you put them together you can tell, they just **won't** work. Her instrument would sound better with a beat or something…" Ichigo continued, laughing at himself while cracking horribly concealed jokes.

"…idiot." Toushiro scowled, lying back down in a relaxed position as he closed his eyes. Ichigo's face turned a shade of red,

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"

"I said you're an idiot."

With his eyes closed, Toushiro didn't see the arms grabbing him and tossing him across the room in a rage before being held roughly against the wall by the neck. He struggled to breathe, looking at Ichigo's enraged face.

"What would **you** know?" Ichigo demanded, having another coughing fit which weakened his grip. Toushiro took the opportunity to trade their positions, only this time he slammed Ichigo against the floor. Ichigo's cough worsened.

"You think you're so damn pitiable hey?" Toushiro's boyish voice said. "Yet, look at you. You're an idiot. You get pissed so easily about something as trivial as a girl. This is Tokyo Music Academy, get a grip. You're not here for the girls, are you? You're here to further your studies –to show the world how great you are."

Ichigo felt his heart racing from the over exertion on his part. He didn't want to admit it, but Toushiro was right. _Face the facts_ he told himself over and over again. Toushiro's grip loosened and he rolled back onto his bed as if nothing had happened.

"Every time my feelings tell me to pursue Momo, I remind myself why I'm here. I like her. No…" his voice shook a bit, "I'm not here for her. I'm here for my music. You heard sensei right? I'm the only cellist in the whole academy. The school hadn't accepted my instrument until I applied again and again…and here I am. In Tokyo Music Academy."

Ichigo listened to Toushiro's confession whilst watching his chest rise up and down slower and slower. His body felt like it had a huge weight put onto it. It must've been the sickness that was causing the slight watering of his eyes as he looked at the ceiling.

"I'm here for your music Okaa-san," he whispered to himself, hoping from the bottom of his heart she was there again. Hoping that she'd listen with her eyes closed, a smile etched onto her beautiful features. Rolling over on his side, he closed his eyes, hoping the pain would soon go away.

Rukia returned, giddy with excitement from having met new friends. Their names still eluded her, but she'd have all the time in the world to learn it. Accidentally slamming room number 12 open in excitement, she jumped on Momo who'd naively placed her violin down for a moment.

"Guess what!" she squealed. Momo smiled politely at first, then slightly reluctantly.

"What is it Rukia?"

"You know Renji, the hot guy from this morning?" she waited for Momo to nod before continuing, "he asked me out on a date! A date!"

"That's great!" Momo smiled. Since they'd moved in together, she'd never seen Rukia so lively.

"Help me pick out something to wear. He said he'd wait downstairs after class…! I won't have enough time then…"

"I'm practicing for…" she hiccupped, "actually, I'll help you."

As Rukia pulled her closet doors open and turned around in excitement, her face dropped when she looked at Momo's red eyes and pale face. Carefully walking to her and putting her arm around her, she asked, "What's wrong?"

Momo laughed a bit, "Sorry, I got something in my eye. It's really… annoying me…" she rubbed her eyes, unable to conceal her tears anymore. When the tears started flowing, they wouldn't stop, and as it continued her sobs started deepening.

Rukia had long ago forgotten her date with Renji as she comforted Momo.

"Tell me, what's wrong?"

Momo sniffed, leaning her head into the nook of Rukia's neck.

"H-he said, we should just be friends… b-because," she was overcome with violent sobs, but soon enough, she'd controlled her breathing better, "he w-wanted to focus on h-his music…He's r-right. I should f-focus more too…"

Momo's little frame shook as her voice trembled.

"… I'm sorry Momo. I'm sorry." Was all Rukia could say as she patted Momo's head. She didn't know what else to do but sit and comfort her friend as best she could.

Ukitake-sensei paced the room, speaking in his audaciously velvety voice. Rukia's concentration faded in and out as he spoke,

"… You need to think about textural changes… tonal changes… what part would be suitable to harmonize?" his voice echoed as he moved around the front of the lecture hall gesturing here and there.

The night before, Rukia had sat three hours until Momo stopped crying and fell asleep with puffy swollen eyes. And she'd left Momo asleep whilst coming to the lecture, hoping that perhaps she'd sleep off the hurt, or the universe would give her friend a beautiful dream…

"… Partners are to be devised by today, and you'll fill in this form that I'm handing out to everyone," Rukia phased back in, sitting herself up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ichigo sit up slightly as well, "On it, you have to write your name, the name of your partner, what piece you'll be performing, and what instruments you'll play it with. Of course, for extra marks, you can go the extra mile of performing your own composition. I'll take that into consideration also."

Ichigo's hand went up.

"Yes, Kurosaki-san?" Ukitake sensei addressed Ichigo.

"I want to do my performance alone, how many marks will I lose?"

Ukitake-sensei thought for a moment, "… well, the point of this performance is to assess your teamwork, and to introduce yourself and show off your ability…"

"But how do I express myself when I have to hold my skill back for someone else?"

"Who said you'd be holding back?" Ukitake-sensei said, now in a challenging tone, "Answering your former question Kurosaki-san, if you refuse to team with someone for this assessment task, you fail."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "But …!"

"And as you know, failure is not allowed in Tokyo Music Academy within the first 6 months of acceptance lest you'd like to be kicked out."

Ichigo scowled. Ukitake-san smiled before addressing the class, "That goes for all of you…"

Rukia stopped listening, pondering on what Ichigo had said. From the fun they'd had the day before running, she'd thought it was only natural they'd pair with each other to do their performance.

"Hand in your sheets as you leave…and you're dismissed."

The students bustled out, ready to begin their tasks, while only three students remained, having been caught by Ukitake-sensei trying to sneak out without handing a sheet in.

"What do you have to explain for yourselves?" he pushed his glasses up –white strands of hair falling onto his face.

"I'm…not good at teamwork," Rukia tried to bluff her way out of it, hoping the teacher would fall for her teary act, but he shrugged her off.

"Where's Hinamori-san today? Is she not feeling well?"

"…" Rukia's lips were sealed as she nodded.

"Well… if you, Hitsugaya-kun or Kurosaki-kun can't decide fast enough, then I'll decide for you."

The three stayed in each of their own stubborn silences.

"Fine, my decision then…Hmm… What instrument do you play again Hitsugaya-kun?"

"Cello," Toushiro twitched.

"Then I want you and Kuchiki-san to work together and Kurosaki-san with the violinist. It'd be a nice change to see a cellist and flutist duet. Also I'll be looking forward to see what kind of beautiful tune a pianist like yourself, Kurosaki-san, can come up with a violinist like Hinamori-san." Ukitake-sensei paused and asked with a smile, "Any objections that may possibly lead me to want to fail you?" he paused, "No?"

He packed his notes together and shooed the intimidated students out.

Exiting the lecture hall, all three looked at each other, looked the other way, then went their separate ways –each without the slightest inkling of desire in their blood to work with one another.

Her eyes felt dry and crackly as she opened them, trying to decipher what the time was and how long she'd slept. Looking outside, it already looked like dusk –so Rukia had been kind enough to let her groggily sleep on.

Sighing, she sniffed, sitting herself up. Her head still dropped as she sat with a hunchback. All she could remember was a decisively stern Hitsugaya from yesterday.

_She nervously sat beside him, beginning to pack her violin away._

"_What are you doing tomorrow? Would you like to practice together again?" Momo asked, her cheeks going a rosy shade as she awaited his answer. _

_Toushiro__ looked away –he seemed to be doing that a lot today._

"_Actually, I'm busy…" he paused, still not looking at her, " I'll be busy for the rest of my studies in Tokyo Music Academy, so we might never play again. Of course, I'll need to practice –you too, so maybe when we graduate we can play together some time?"_

_Momo's eyes widened.__"Oh… oh…"_

_She couldn't seem to get any words out as she watched him walk away. __They'd been getting along so well, why'd he suddenly leave? Her level probably wasn't good enough for his standards… he was so perfect…_

She wanted to fall back asleep and never wake up again. But it wasn't good enough. Slowly sliding off her bed, she roughly tied her hair back –fringe still dishevelled, before grabbing her violin case and making her way out to _that_ place.

_Stupid_. He thought over and over again in his mind. He'd managed to single-handedly ruin his chance with her whilst getting himself paired off with that monster of a girl –Kuchiki. Cello didn't work with flute. In his ears, it just didn't sound right. But it was his fault he wasn't playing with the tune that suited him most…

Where else could he go, now that he was stuck in this mess? Perhaps this would be his last week in Tokyo Music Academy. He'd be kicked out as soon as Ukitake-sensei called his name and the monster woman to perform…

Sighing, he shoved his hands in his pockets and paced. In his clouded judgment of direction, he found himself on the path towards that garden… where Momo and he first started practicing together.

He missed her so much he could even hear the sad tune of her violin in his heart. The song heart wrenchingly beautiful tore through his soul…Why'd he do it? Why did he single-handedly throw his heart away for... _pride_?

_Wait_, he told himself, _I can actually hear it…_

Peaking around the corner, he watched as her glistening tears ran down her cheeks as she moved the bow up and down so gracefully, it was almost like she was caressing the strings. Her messy hair framed her features and everything about her in that moment made his heart beat anksfaster and faster –she was so beautiful.

He couldn't watch anymore. It killed him to watch her like that… All he could do was lean helplessly against the wall and listen to the emotion she was screaming through her music.

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End Note: MsMifuyu's Profile-.net/u/2591533/MsMifuyu

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	10. The Duet

Here is Chapter 10.. :D sorry for the wait guyssssssss ... and thanks for reviewing and stuff ;D

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Chapter 10- The Duet

Rukia walked back into her room as quietly as possible so she wouldn't wake up her depressed roommate Momo. _Does Hitsugaya know what he's missing out on? _Rukia thought with a soft sigh.

A shiver ran up her spine, _and I still need to pair up with him for that stupid duet_. Momo's words from the other day still floated around in her head. She just couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Her eyes slowly drifted to Momo, who was sleeping on her own bed curled up in a ball. Rukia pulled the blankets closer towards Momo; her chest slowly rose and went back down as she breathed her slow, soft breaths.

She quickly picked up her flute and went to the practice room where she was to meet Hitsugaya to rehearse their duet. Just the thought of that stupid white-haired kid made her growl in annoyance.

At the practice room, Hitsugaya arrived ten minutes earlier than the scheduled time. He rested his cello on his shoulder, making him hunch a little. He tightened his bow and tuned his instrument to make sure the notes spoke perfectly in tune. He placed a piece of paper on his stand and picked up his bow. A dark, rich tone filled the room as the bow met the strings.

Rukia hurried to the room but slowed down as she heard the saddest, most thought provoking tune she had ever heard. The amount of emotion that came out of that room entered her ears and made her body freeze. She looked through the glass in the door and saw Hitsugaya pulling the bow from left to right and felt the sorrow he was trying to portray. Each note pierced her fragile heart and tears blurred her vision. _He is either really sad or just really good at playing sadly…_ whichever it was Rukia didn't want to disrupt the moment so she waited outside until the last note sung out with great misery and the music flowed to a stop.

She knocked on the door and stepped into the room. "That was _really _good…"

Hitsugaya quickly wiped something off his face and turned around, "Huh… oh… uhh… thanks."

Rukia walked up to him, "Were you crying?"

"N-no… there's just something in my eye…" Hitsugaya mumbled while rubbing his eye ferociously with a forced laugh.

Anger suddenly washed over Rukia and she strided up to Hitsugaya, grabbed his small wrist and demanded, "Why? Why can you break Momo's heart like that?"

Hitsugaya was taken aback by Rukia's actions and was quiet for a moment after hearing Rukia's words. He looked at his shoes and mumbled out, "I-I… don't want to hurt her… I'm going to be working full-time on my music during my time here so I don't have time for a relationship…"

Rukia sighed, "Don't you think your music is going to be better if you're happy in life? I don't think that display before was very _happy_."

Hitsugaya looked at his beloved cello. After a moment of silence he turned back to her and cleared his throat, "Shall we get back to practicing?"

A huge sigh came from Rukia as she told herself … _don't swear at him… don't swear at him… _Rukia put together her flute and played a few notes to warm up. She loved the way the sound rebounded from the ceiling to the wooden ground. She looked at Hitsugaya and nodded, they sight read the piece they planned to play. Pretty soon, the room was once again filled with music, but although the piece was a more cheerful one, the sound that was produced didn't reflect that feeling.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop… this isn't right," Rukia complained as she put down her flute. She turned to face the white-haired musician. "It's meant to be happy, but at the moment, all I can hear is a cello that is sad, and gloomy and blah."

"Let's try again then," he said.

The music restarted, a little bit more lively this time but Rukia just couldn't help but feel unhappiness coming out of Hitsugaya's cello. But to keep the practice going, she tried her best at ignoring the sadness that she was feeling.

At 5:30, they stopped playing and decided to go back to their rooms to get ready for dinner. After all, they _did_ play for the whole afternoon. Rukia cleaned her flute from top to bottom, only to get criticized by a certain string player that she takes too long.

"What! I love my flute and I take care of it!"

"I'm just saying, you take to damn long!" Hitsugaya grunted. He tapped his cello case impatiently as he watched Rukia pack her flute away.

Rukia grunted, a vein popped up on her forehead. She quickly finished polishing the head-joint and put it away. After admiring her stunning job at polishing for what seemed like an eternity for Hitsugaya, she closed the flute case and headed off with Hitsugaya, who was grumbling like an old grandpa. His cello followed behind him as he wheeled it towards the elevators.

"How's Momo?" Hitsugaya asked quietly once they stepped into the lift.

"Not very good…" Rukia replied. "She has hardly eaten at all since the other day."

Hitsugaya frowned. He didn't mean for her to get _this_ upset… "Could you tell her I'm sorry ?"

"I don't think that's the best idea, maybe you should say it yourself."

The young boy looked doubtful.

"Come on, be a man!" Rukia pushed with a frustrated sigh.

Hitsugaya nodded slowly and said, "Fine, but not so soon. I need to think things out."

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she huffed while walking out of the elevator and towards her room. Just before she went inside her room, she turned to Hitsugaya and said, "Just don't make her wait too long."

"I'll try," Hitsugaya replied and headed back to his room. He heaved a sigh and laid down on his bed. He needed someone to talk to, but that loud carrot-head was out, no doubt practising his duet piece with Momo. _Momo…_ Hitsugaya ran his hand through his hair in annoyance. He can't seem to get her out of his head these days and the sad look on Momo's face that day was engraved into his brain…

Hitsugaya stared blankly at his room and sat up when his eyes focused on something. _That's it, I'll make it up to Momo with… _


End file.
